Chiarelli va a l'encontre de sa politique, pas de négotiations pendant la saison,Il parle de discussion avec le camp RASK_______________Breaching my own policy [of not discussing contracts], we will bring up talks with Tuukka at some point in this season, in hoping to extend him ..." Chiarelli said this week, according to CSNNE.com

Joe Haggerty believes a five- or six-year deal of up to $30 million could be on the horizon for Rask.

A la fin de la saison 2011-12, RAY SHERO/Boston a tenu une sérieuse discussionavec le D PAUL MARTIN. ___>> Shero asked a simple question: Do you want out?>>>"I asked him if he wanted a trade," Shero told ESPN.com this week.__Martin répond, qu'il veut demeurer a Pittsburgh et promet de revenir et etre le Paul Martin qui a signé le contrat en 2010__>>> He told Shero he didn't want to take the easy way out. Moreover, Martin pledged to return this season a different player, the old player, the player that had made him one of the top free-agent defensemen on the market in 2010.____________

Appearing on the NHL Network studio show NHL Tonight, Melrose ranked New Jersey Devils tough-guy-turned-scorer David Clarkson as the top power forward in the NHL, ahead of Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames star Jarome Iginla. _____________

Jets: Earlier this week, Andrew Ladd called out his teammates for their continued lack of effort. Sounded harsh, but it was a fair assessment. Right now, he’s captain of a ship that has way too many passengers. Any penalty the Jets take is an invitation to disaster with their league-worst PK bumbling along at 67.5 percent, and their inability to control the puck in their own zone has them 25th in goals-against. This is a team that needs an infusion of the night-in, night-out hustle that ROR provides. Streaky center Bryan Little or young Alex Burmistrov, along with promising blueliner Paul Postma, might work. Not cheap, but it would send a message.

Panthers: Outside of Winnipeg, they may be the team most willing to pay the price. Florida is floundering in the Eastern Conference basement and the farm is loaded with young promise that’s still a year or more away. If the Panthers want to maintain any of the momentum they built last year, they need an infusion of “right now” a lot more than “wait ’til next year.” That might mean parting with Nick Bjugstad.

Blue Jackets: There’s a sense out there that the Avs will only trade O’Reilly to the East. I’m not buying it. If the package that is most advantageous to them comes from a conference rival, I think they suck it up and take the chance of facing his righteous fury four times a year. O’Reilly is a player cut from John Davidson’s preferred cloth. His Blues favored athletes who were hard to play against, and ROR is every bit one of those. A package that starts with promising but inconsistent center Derick Brassard gets Colorado’s attention.

Islanders: Everything you know about them says they wouldn’t be a player here. ROR is too expensive, his term demands are daunting, and Ryan Strome is on the way. Still, outside of John Tavares, to whom among this perennial “wait til next year” bunch are the Isles married? ROR would be a clear upgrade over Frans Nielsen and would buy time for Strome to develop. They have disgruntled prospect Nino Niederreiter or underperforming winger Kyle Okposo to craft an offer around. Either could have appeal to the Avs. Colorado might even like Nielsen, who is in the first year of a four-year deal at $2.75 million per season. That’s a contract that seems to fit their model.

Sabres: Outside of one satisfying beatdown of the Bruins, their off-season commitment to playing meaner hasn’t paid dividends. They stick up for themselves, but their pants are dropping while their fists are up. They’re at a massive disadvantage at the dots, dead last with a winning percentage that’s struggling to stay above 43 percent…and it only gets worse in their own zone. Fortunately, they have nearly a dozen young assets that might interest the Avs. Not sure I believe that Tyler Myers is among them, but I’ve heard his name mentioned as being available in the right deal. If not him, then World Junior Championship Team USA captain Jake McCabe or Mark Pysyk, along with a solid roster player, could get it done.

Maple Leafs: Toronto needs help down the middle and would appear to have plenty of assets to swing the deal. Tyler Bozak makes sense on one level — youngish center, former Denver Pioneer, lives in the area — but he’s a UFA after this season. Can’t imagine Colorado wanting him without reassurances of his future intent. The Leafs may not want to part with Jake Gardiner, but they have other young defenders (Morgan Rielly, Stuart Percy) to backfill that gap. And it may take Gardiner, the slick American blueliner to get a deal off the ground.

Blackhawks: The dark horse. Logic suggests you don’t mess with a high-performing machine, but for all the grief that O’Reilly gets for his offense, he still brings more to the table than injury-prone Dave Bolland. No surprise then if GM Stan Bowman decides that ROR is exactly what he needs to put the Hawks over the top. They have plenty of young assets on the roster, though they might want to load a deal with futures rather than remove a piece of the current pie. Andrew Shaw, Jimmy Hayes, Adam Clendening and Mark McNeill likely would be available.

Jets: Earlier this week, Andrew Ladd called out his teammates for their continued lack of effort. Sounded harsh, but it was a fair assessment. Right now, he’s captain of a ship that has way too many passengers. Any penalty the Jets take is an invitation to disaster with their league-worst PK bumbling along at 67.5 percent, and their inability to control the puck in their own zone has them 25th in goals-against. This is a team that needs an infusion of the night-in, night-out hustle that ROR provides. Streaky center Bryan Little or young Alex Burmistrov, along with promising blueliner Paul Postma, might work. Not cheap, but it would send a message.

Panthers: Outside of Winnipeg, they may be the team most willing to pay the price. Florida is floundering in the Eastern Conference basement and the farm is loaded with young promise that’s still a year or more away. If the Panthers want to maintain any of the momentum they built last year, they need an infusion of “right now” a lot more than “wait ’til next year.” That might mean parting with Nick Bjugstad.

Blue Jackets: There’s a sense out there that the Avs will only trade O’Reilly to the East. I’m not buying it. If the package that is most advantageous to them comes from a conference rival, I think they suck it up and take the chance of facing his righteous fury four times a year. O’Reilly is a player cut from John Davidson’s preferred cloth. His Blues favored athletes who were hard to play against, and ROR is every bit one of those. A package that starts with promising but inconsistent center Derick Brassard gets Colorado’s attention.

Islanders: Everything you know about them says they wouldn’t be a player here. ROR is too expensive, his term demands are daunting, and Ryan Strome is on the way. Still, outside of John Tavares, to whom among this perennial “wait til next year” bunch are the Isles married? ROR would be a clear upgrade over Frans Nielsen and would buy time for Strome to develop. They have disgruntled prospect Nino Niederreiter or underperforming winger Kyle Okposo to craft an offer around. Either could have appeal to the Avs. Colorado might even like Nielsen, who is in the first year of a four-year deal at $2.75 million per season. That’s a contract that seems to fit their model.

Sabres: Outside of one satisfying beatdown of the Bruins, their off-season commitment to playing meaner hasn’t paid dividends. They stick up for themselves, but their pants are dropping while their fists are up. They’re at a massive disadvantage at the dots, dead last with a winning percentage that’s struggling to stay above 43 percent…and it only gets worse in their own zone. Fortunately, they have nearly a dozen young assets that might interest the Avs. Not sure I believe that Tyler Myers is among them, but I’ve heard his name mentioned as being available in the right deal. If not him, then World Junior Championship Team USA captain Jake McCabe or Mark Pysyk, along with a solid roster player, could get it done.

Maple Leafs: Toronto needs help down the middle and would appear to have plenty of assets to swing the deal. Tyler Bozak makes sense on one level — youngish center, former Denver Pioneer, lives in the area — but he’s a UFA after this season. Can’t imagine Colorado wanting him without reassurances of his future intent. The Leafs may not want to part with Jake Gardiner, but they have other young defenders (Morgan Rielly, Stuart Percy) to backfill that gap. And it may take Gardiner, the slick American blueliner to get a deal off the ground.

Blackhawks: The dark horse. Logic suggests you don’t mess with a high-performing machine, but for all the grief that O’Reilly gets for his offense, he still brings more to the table than injury-prone Dave Bolland. No surprise then if GM Stan Bowman decides that ROR is exactly what he needs to put the Hawks over the top. They have plenty of young assets on the roster, though they might want to load a deal with futures rather than remove a piece of the current pie. Andrew Shaw, Jimmy Hayes, Adam Clendening and Mark McNeill likely would be available.

Colorado Avalanche C Ryan O'Reilly, the lone marquee unsigned restricted free agent, has been the subject of trade talks, with increasing reports in the media, so it seems as good a time as any to look around the league to see what kind of package that Colorado might fetch should they go ahead and deal their talented two-way centre.

First, it needs to be established that Ryan O'Reilly is a very good player, probably better than you think. Especially better than you think if you're one of those who looks at his career and says that he "only" scored 26 points in each of his first two seasons before scoring 55 points last season. Keep in mind, those 26-point seasons were the work of a teenager.

A few frames of reference for O'Reilly's early-career production:

First, he played more than 2500 minutes through his first two seasons. Since 2000, there have been six other forwards to play that much as 18 and 19-year-olds and it's pretty good company: Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jordan Staal, Jeff Skinner and Sam Gagner.

Secondly, since 2000, there have been 25 forwards (including O'Reilly) to record at least 50 points in their 20-year-old NHL season.

Of those 25 forwards, 11 scored fewer than 65 points in their Age 20 season. Seven went on to score at least 65 points at some point in the next three seasons. Of those that haven't, three (Taylor Hall, Jakub Voracek and Evander Kane) have yet to play three seasons since scoring 50 points.

David Perron, who missed 97 games due to concussions when he was 22 and 23, is the only forward since 2000 to not put up 65 points in one of the three seasons following a 50-point, 20-year-old season.

I chose 65 points as a threshold because, in 2011-2012, that would have ranked among the top 15 NHL centres in scoring. (There are some players incorrectly cited as centres in that link.)

There is some notion out there that Ryan O'Reilly isn't a number one centre because he's not going to score 100 points. Let's be clear, there are less than a handful of 100-point centres in the league and two of them play in Pittsburgh. There are a handful more who might consistently score a point-per-game and, after that, there is a larger group, with more variance from year to year, that may put up between 55 and 75 points.

If O'Reilly falls into that group, given his defensive value and the consistently tough matchups he takes on, it's hard to imagine that he doesn't warrant the status of a No. 1 centre.

Maybe he's not a No. 1 centre in the Sidney Crosby or Steven Stamkos sense, but how about in the Patrice Bergeron or David Backes mold, productive offensive players who consistently face the opponent's best lines, start more shifts in the defensive zone and control 200 feet of ice?

For whatever reason, the Avalanche aren't finding common ground with O'Reilly on a new contract. It's hardly the first time a team and a player have had different ideas about relative value. Since it doesn't currently look that likely that there will be an agreement, maybe a trade is a way for the Avalanche to recoup some value.

From Colorado's perspective, they do have Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny down the middle already, so it isn't imperative that they get another centre in exchange for O'Reilly. What is important, however, is getting multiple pieces that will help shore up holes. A forward would be nice, but if a team is willing to part with a premium defenceman, that should hold some appeal too, since Colorado's defence lacks difference-makers.

Darren Dreger has reported that the asking price for O'Reilly begins at an NHL roster player and a top prospect, but there is likely some variability. If the roster player is good enough, or presents favourable value due to their contract, maybe the prospect doesn't have to be the best. Perhaps draft picks will also play a role. If more teams start making offers, the price will, naturally, go up.

Upon looking around the league, here are some teams that could use O'Reilly and might be able to come up with a suitable package of players for Colorado.

Certainly other teams could come up with offers -- any team has NHL players and prospects at their disposal -- but those seemed like some viable alternatives.

Wherever he ends up, O'Reilly will face a certain amount of pressure.

The first consideration is that he still needs to sign a contract. The team acquiring him will have to be aware of what kind of deal he's expecting, in the neighbourhood of $5-million per season, and be prepared to get that kind of deal done.

At that price, O'Reilly will need to produce offensively, but he can't do it at the expense of the defensive value that has set him apart in his first three NHL seasons. It's that defensive value, combined with offensive production, that warrants Ryan O'Reilly being treated like a number one centre.

Whenever he does hit the ice, O'Reilly had better be prepared to perform like a top centre because the longer his contract dispute rages, the more expectations will rise.

There are already many who scoff at his contract demands (Who does he think he is?), citing career point totals, but if O'Reilly gets this contract situation settled, he can focus on becoming one of the game's better two-way centres, a commodity that isn't often undervalued.

CHICAGO:____COMMOTION?? Corey Crawford......... a suivre________Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford might have sustained a concussion, according to a report by Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. Head coach Joel Quenville identified the injury by saying there was no defining blow, which Lazerus believes indicates that Crawford was hit in the head and might have a concussion. Lazerus isolates a moment against the Anaheim Ducks when Crawford was hit by Ducks forward Bobby Ryan and then was hit in the head by the knee of defenseman Brent Seabrook

__________________ It has been no secret that the Pittsburgh Penguins need more production from the left winger on the Evgeni Malkin-James Neal line, which always begs the question of if Pens general manager Ray Shero will look to improve the current team via trade. Rookie Beau Bennett's recent call-up should assure him a lengthy look in the future, but if the Penguins don't feel that Bennett is ready just yet, a deal is certainly something that Shero is likely considering. NHL Trade Rumors are certain to start flying, and the first has the Penguins potentially looking at a pair of Minnesota Wild forwards. Reports have indicated that the Pens could have interest in either Devin Setoguchi and/or Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

__________The general manager of the New York Rangers is also thought to be actively discussing a trade for Ryan O'Reilly of the Colorado Avalanche. CBC's Elliotte Friedman proposes the Avs may be interested in shipping O'Reilly eastward for a package that includes defenseman Michael Del Zotto.

______Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa had to be helped off the ice after Vancouver Canucks winger Jannik Hansen hit him in the back of the head with his left forearm.

--------------- suiteThe puck is in the air in front of Hossa. Hansen comes up from behind and rather than make a play for it, he appears to deliver either an elbow or forearm to the back of Hossa’s head.

There’s no way to look at that and see a hockey play gone wrong.

The star forward was flattened in almost the exact same spot that Raffi Torres laid him out in last spring’s playoffs. He eventually got up and left the ice with the assistance of two Chicago trainers but didn’t return to action.

You have to hope for the best for Hossa. And you have to think Hansen will face a significant suspension for targeting his head. MORNING UPDATE: Hansen is scheduled to meet with Shanahan at 3:30 EST today

I can think of several contenders that would love to add him to the mix. Could Alfredsson be enticed to leave his one and only NHL club to take a shot at a first-ever Stanley Cup?

Daniel Alfredsson is playing his 17th season in Ottawa after being drafted by the club in 1994.One team that I believe will show serious interest in Alfredsson, if and when the time is right, is the powerhouse Boston Bruins. With the trade of Tim Thomas’ contract, the B’s have lots of cap room to add pieces before the April 3 trade deadline.

The connections, of course, are obvious: GM Peter Chiarelli used to work in Ottawa’s front office and B’s captain Zdeno Chara is a former teammate of Alfredsson's. If there’s one team that could entice Alfredsson, I’m not sure there’s a better fit than Boston

Back already? Marian Hossa is one of two players to make quick returns from scary injuries on Thursday. He may play Friday when his Blackhawks try to set a new NHL record—and whether he does or not, SN's Sean Gentille is left queasy

Reinforcements should be arriving soon in the form of longtime prospect Carl Soderberg, who, at 27, has never played in the NHL but is leading the Swedish Elite League in scoring.

Carl Soderberg may be the best player in the Swedish Elite League, and he's likely to soon join the Boston Bruins. (AP Photo)GM Peter Chiarelli confirmed that the team is close to an agreement that would bring Soderberg to Boston when his season with Linköping HC ends. They're about to start a best-of-seven playoff series.